By Reuel S.
AmdurFor the PostWhy have Roma recently been leaving the Czech Republic for Canada? From November 2007 through last March, 267 Czechs — thought to be all Roma — sought refugee status in Canada. By contrast from 2001 to 2007, there were only 123 such applications. The recent increase follows the removal of visa restrictions last November, and the reasons behind it seem clear to those in Canada working with refugee claimants. “They tell me it’s because of beatings and harassment by skinheads and neo-Nazis,” said Max Berger, a Toronto lawyer who is representing some of the applicants.Others are able to fill in more graphic details. Paul St. Clair, executive director of Toronto’s Roma Community Centre, spoke about the experiences of some 40 or so families he has seen during the recent influx.“Seven pregnant women were beaten and kicked in the stomach by skinheads. Four can no longer conceive,” he said. “Another woman, eight months pregnant, was kicked in the stomach and her child now carries permanent bruises.” St. Clair also said that men could not find work in the Czech Republic, many reporting that a potential employer would either claim a job was filled or come right out and say, “We don’t hire Roma.”According to St. Clair, many Roma were afraid to use the metro and trains, because of attacks from skinheads. At night, skinheads invaded Roma neighborhoods, throwing rocks and Molotov cocktails, sometimes invading homes, destroying property and attacking people with knives and miniature baseball bats. He added that the National Guard, a new extremist group, is known to beat people with dark skin during their marches, during which they chant, “The Czech Republic is for whites.” He said that complaints to the police were fruitless because authorities asked for the names of the attackers, without which the matter is dropped. Often, he said, they did not even make a report. Amnesty International, in its April 18 report, also spoke of “incidents of violence” by young racists. Amnesty cited the European commissioner for human rights, who expressed concern about allegations of police violence against Roma and police inaction when Roma were victims of crime. Establishing a patternCanada also received an influx of Czech Roma in 1997, following a Czech television program that described Canada as a fine place for Roma. Canada responded at the time by imposing visa requirements for visitors from the Czech Republic — a requirement that was lifted last November. While Czech officials now say they have no information on another dramatic “mass exodus” of Roma to Canada, they are aware of a level of emigration. “The majority of Roma currently moving to Canada are members of individual families that had moved to Canada before the state introduced visas for Czechs,” said Radka Soukupová, director of the Commission for Roma Community Affairs, an advisory body of the Czech Cabinet. When addressing issues of harrassment and job discrimination, Soukupová is quick to guard against generalizing the Roma experience. “Roma communities are a varied Czech entity, so we can’t look at it as one single mass,” she said. “Roma people are moving to Canada, but this is not a problem of all Roma communities, just some of them.” However, she was familiar with individual concerns.“Some complain they don’t get access to proper jobs, housing and education,” she said, adding that, however, “We can’t just say all Roma people are discriminated against in the Czech Republic.”On issues of harassment, she was aware that “many are becoming scared of the National Guard.”While anti-Roma racism activity is uncommon in Canda, some people arriving there in 1997 did encounter it. In one Toronto suburb, demonstrators holding placards gathered in front of a motel housing Roma refugee claimants. One Roma woman reported feeling at first that it was like back home, but she was pleased by the Canadian response when police provided protection. Some of the demonstrators were tried for hate crimes. When they were acquitted on a technicality, the Supreme Court ordered a new trial. — Hela Balínová contributed to this report. Reuel S. Amdur can be reached at news@praguepost.com
(Prague Post)
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